Thoughts About Oakland On October 25, 2011

These are just my thoughts about what happened in Oakland California on the night of October 25, 2011.

The activities stemmed from @OccupyWallStreet as @OccupyOakland grew in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement which has spread worldwide as part of the middle-class and poorer classes response to the global recession and the view that the recent economic crisis has been at least partly a result of big banks and big corporations greed.

The people can see that these large entitites have feasted while the rest of us have gone hungry.

And so the @OccupyTheWorld groups have started and they have grown in spite of various attempts by politicians and even local law enforcement to put out the fires.

But the fire cannot be extinguished in that way because at it’s root it is not criminal activity. No matter what laws an individual country or local area has, the people have a basic “unalienable right” to freedom.

Politicians & police do not understand that major actions like last night in Oakland and in Atlanta actually strengthen a movement. Managers think they are giving directions to line police officers that will result in “crushing” an acvtivity. But this is not a criminal activity.

It is not a crime wave or even a street gang.

Even military action would only strengthen the movement because folks that sympathize with the protestors now decide to join them or offer other support they otherwise would not have considered.

What is to the politicians and some police a simple attempt to stop a group from doing something like “camping” in the park or on the Plaza becomes something much larger and on television or on the internet it looks like they are stifling freedom. It looks like ‘the people’ who are asking for just a little bit of freedom are being hammered by a giant fist.

Which is actually exactly what is going on. Exactly.

And so more people join and more people support…and it becomes emboldened and strengthened. Day by day.

If you saw this video on television, on the nightly news, or on the internet what would be your response? What about your friends or your neighbors?

Would it cause some new people to join the cause?

This photo shows an Iraq veteran injured on a street in Oakland, California on the night of October 25th:

The group has offered support in many U.S. cities that are “Occupied” including Oakland.

So here we have a brave young man. An American who has served us well in Iraq, seen and done things we would not understand but can appreciate.

And he returns from serving from our war in Iraq only to lay injured in an American street. For protesting.

Listen, this is important: he was not robbing a bank. He was not assaulting anyone. He was not dealing drugs to schoolchildren.

He was protesting. This Iraq war veteran was significantly injured solely because he protested.

Below is an empty shell and an actual rubber slug shot from from a 12 gauge shotgun:

And here is the same type of shell with as rubber bullet before firing:

And I definitely recommend that you sign this petitionto Mayor Jean Quan and the Oakland Police Chief and let them know that firing tear gas cannisters, rubber bullets and wooden dowels at our citizens is wrong.

The protests, the occupations, the marches, the violence, the politicians deciding to evict the protestors, the police telling the TV news people to turn their “cameras off”, the rubber bullets & tear gas cannisters?

Why is any of it important at all?

Because of this. The report that rich people and corporations do NOT want you to see: